Heartwork The Messenger #21

The first of them, the first phase that the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, went through, was the phase of receiving the revelation.

And in that reception, the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, was, um, you know, to say the least, the experience that he went through was one that absolutely, uh, you know, shook him.

And, you know, he went back to his wife, Khadija, and he expressed that to her, and then she took him to this expert, Waraqa, who could give him this, uh, perspective on what had happened and kind of like open up to him the reality of what's happening to him, that he's being chosen as a messenger of God.

Um, the second revelation or the second moment, or I guess the end of the first one, was that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he reminded the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, that what he was experiencing and the way that he was experiencing it was not an indication of, like, any sort of insanity or craziness or that he wasn't imagining things, but this actually was happening, and he was in fact chosen by Allah to carry out this mission, okay? The second revelation, or the second layer of this preparation, I should say, is where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, this little bit of a push, right? Qum fa'andhir.

Qum fa'andhir.

And we talked about this last week, that this is the divine means or the divine way by which Allah told the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, that at some point you're going to have to actually deliver the message, right? You received it.

It's been cultivated within you, right? But now you actually have to do the actual job, the function of messengership, and this came with its own challenges.

You know, the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, he didn't just go and proclaim, uh, immediately to everybody.

He didn't just go and talk about, you know, what Islam meant and how...

No, because there were, there were really serious, uh, personal health, safety, and political risks that he would take if he did that.

But this was a, a precursor to the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, being told and being prepared that you do have to engage with people, that you do have to engage with people.

Now, we know, like, there's all of those really, really difficult stories where the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, was ridiculed and mocked, and he was harassed.

But there are also stories where the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, was accepted, and he was, uh, uh, uh, you know, embraced and engaged.

And one of the things that the scholars that specialize especially in the biography of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa salam, his life, the subject is called sira.

In Arabic you might hear that word, sira.

It just means the prophetic biography.

These scholars who specialize, they note something that's unique, and I want us all to pay attention here.

They note that the people that were most willing to listen to and to engage with the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, in earnest, like in genuine faith, were the people who were not powerful and not wealthy.

It's really interesting.

The ones who were powerful, the ones who were wealthy, the ones who held status in, in Mecca, they did not even give the Prophet, alayhis salatu wa salam, any, any room to talk.

And the ones who were, you know, destitute or impoverished or struggling, those that society had kind of overlooked, they were the ones that listened to him.

Now, why is this a unique point or an important point? Because in our society, we oftentimes confuse intelligence, um, you know, influence.

We confuse noble traits, right, good character.

So intelligence, good character, all of that, we attribute it somehow to be affiliated with status and wealth.

That if somebody is wealthy, if they're powerful, we don't instantly question them.